LOOK OUT: Georgetown’s Hollis Thompson finds a path to the hoop between Sir’Dominic Pointer (15) and Amir Garrett of St. John’s during the Red Storm’s 71-61 loss yesterday. Photo: AP

WASHINGTON — The big man, John Thompson Jr., and the bigger man, Dikembe Mutombo, strolled down a hallway in the bowels of the Verizon Center, looking more like father and son than coach and son, but that’s the way it is at Georgetown.

Thompson Jr., and now his son, John Thompson III, build lifetime relationships with most of their players, just as Lou Carnesecca did with his Johnnies.

Those of us who remember will never forget the sight of Carnesecca, in his Camaro, driving Jayson Williams to pick up his younger siblings from school.

Now we have coaches that come and go, schools that are trying to set a Guinness Book record for most conference affiliations and players who transfer if their playing time drops 10 seconds after their freshman year.

Some relationship in sports have stood the test of time. For a while, one of those was the Georgetown-St. John’s rivalry. Not anymore.

It’s hard to call this a rivalry after the Johnnies dropped their seventh straight here to Georgetown. The Hoyas have now won nine of the past 12 against the Red Storm after yesterday’s gritty 71-61 win.

The Johnnies (10-15 overall, 4-9 in the Big East) haven’t taken a win with them in that bus ride north on I-95 since 2003. The 12th-ranked Hoyas (19-5, 9-4) lead this series — not rivalry — 32-31 in Big East Conference play.

“I remember the exchange of Chevron sweaters,’’ St. John’s assistant coach Mike Dunlap said of the legendary trade between Carnesecca and Thompson in 1985. “I loved the relationship that Thompson and Carnesecca had.’’

“For me, I want Coach Carnesecca to be proud of what we’re doing,’’ Dunlap said. “It’s really important to Coach [Steve] Lavin and our staff because to me he’s one of those Mount Rushmore guys.’’

Red Storm Nation has had reason to be proud of this young, depleted team which keeps fighting like a honey badger. Never was that more true than yesterday.

Despite having been blown out in their last two games and playing a Georgetown team that was nasty after a 64-61 overtime loss at Syracuse, the Red Storm played 40 minutes of in-your-face ball.

But the Hoyas had a little too much depth, experience and overall talent to prevail. St. John’s, which trailed 35-28 early in the second half, closed to within 42-40 and then 56-53 with 4:20 left.

Moe Harkless (20 points, 8-of-10 from the line, six boards) and D’Angelo Harrison (24 points, 5-of-12 on 3’s) were magnificent. All of the Johnnies left it on the court. But they could never take the lead and put the pressure on Georgetown.

“People were praising us after a loss,’’ Georgetown guard Jason Clark said of the defeat at second-ranked Syracuse. “That’s something we can’t look at.’’

Exactly. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances of yesterday’s loss to the Hoyas were — it’s another loss.

Yes, the Johnnies play only six scholarship players. Yes, five are freshmen. Yes, Lavin has missed most of the season recovering from successful prostate cancer surgery.

But the Hoyas clearly have the Johnnies’ number.

“I’m probably from the school where those things were significant,’’ Thompson Jr., told The Post about this rivalry. “Because not only did you have hate relationships, you had love relationships after the hate relationships — competitive hate, street hate. Now you don’t know who your rival is.’’

If the Johnnies want Georgetown to think of them as rivals, they need to beat the Hoyas here. Right now, the Hoyas are the Red Storm’s daddy.